It wasn't just a decision between sports or arts for Weston Lucas. He’s always wanted to be the mascot.
At six years old Weston donned a panther costume and roamed the sidelines of youth football games in Eclectic. Weston’s mother Carrie said it was his decision.
“I asked the kids when they were little if they wanted to play football,” Carrie said. “I said, ‘Your brother wants to play football. Do you want to play football?’”
When Weston said no, she jokingly asked about being the mascot. To her surprise Weston said yes.
Carrie found a panther costume for the football games. They had it altered to fit his small frame. She went to work in the Holtville schools and brought Weston with her. Even in middle school he continued the path. He became a friend of Brutus the Bulldog at Holtville High School.
“The costume was so big,” Carrie said. “We had to pin it up.”
Weston is going into the seventh grade at Holtville Middle School and decided to go to the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) mascot camp. Weston learned under University of South Alabama’s ‘South Paw.’
There, Weston had a chance to introduce himself to the veteran mascot. Weston explained how he had been mascoting.
“I've been doing this for six years,” Weston told South Paw. “He said, ‘Oh, that's longer than I did it.”
Weston trained both in and out of costume for nearly a week at Auburn.
“It was a lot of fun,” Weston said. “I learned a few things.”
One was it is the friend in the costume that makes the head bobble and not always the costume. His prior experience and growth at camp paid off as he was named the top mascot participant for the week and given the opportunity to be part of the UCA team at the Citrus Bowl.
It was then that Aubie came out, but Weston was present and not Brutus. Weston quickly summoned the bulldog costume to pose for a photograph.
“I want to be Aubie some day,” Weston said. “It’s my dream.”
This fall Brutus can be found on the sidelines of Holtville High School football and some volleyball and basketball games and some wrestling matches.
